Swindon Mechanics Institutes - Memories of Jazz
I fell into the jazz tonight.
like when as a little boy my Dad took me to the Swindon Mechanics Institute where he wanted to dance with my Mum to the swing bands. I was stunned at the sounds of `Blue Skies` and `Tuxedo Junction, then mesmerised by `Ive got you under my skin`.The room alive with white shirted crinoline frocked couples in stiff confidence whirling the floor space.
The white suited `brass` stood to toot and blow like crazy marionettes oblivious to the dancing ballroomers, lost in their music.
All the while the snooker rooms glowed green. I sat on the Victorian stairwell watching the cue-ballers hit the rhythm with that lovely sound over and over…. “I’ve got you under my skin`.
I was in a kind of fascinated reverie.
Tonight, I got lost in the jazz again. Just like when a young boy except that this was my jazz, my audience, my applause and yet I am still in that little boy’s reveries, still at his place on the floor. The only difference is now I play the
sounds they dance the room to
(Confused? Stevie Gilmore is not only an artist, but also a guitarist. He plays regularly at the Old Bank, Swindon.)
